In 1997 I bought a Tartan 37 that had some fairly severe head odor. I have solved the odor problem - it was a combination of an old tank, bad hose and a partly clogged vent. I have replaced the tank, vent and all of the hoses, have done a rebuild on the head, and everything is fine. Howver, there is a leftover from the previous owner's system still in place. In the flush water feed line between the pump and the bowl, there is a small chamber used to feed pellets that are supposed to control odor in the system. I have never used it, my odor problem has (for now) been vanquished, and I would like to pull it out and just do a straight run fromm the pump to the bowl. Before I pull out the feeder, is there any worth in leaving it in the circuit? Do these actually do any good?
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Breath mints
I s'pect they're about as good as them big breath mints folks are always spittin' in public urinals! It's hard to go wrong eliminating as many below the waterline hose clamps a possible. Remember Murphy was an engineer and...an optimist.
I s'pect they're about as good as them big breath mints folks are always spittin' in public urinals! It's hard to go wrong eliminating as many below the waterline hose clamps a possible. Remember Murphy was an engineer and...an optimist.
What Chris said.
Get rid of it, run a straight line from your toilet to the thru-hull, tee your head sink drain into it so you can rinse out the sea water...put a vented loop between the pump and the bowl, and enjoy odor-free sailing.
Get rid of it, run a straight line from your toilet to the thru-hull, tee your head sink drain into it so you can rinse out the sea water...put a vented loop between the pump and the bowl, and enjoy odor-free sailing.
Hmmm...I think Peggy neglected....
in attempting to be brief, to mention that you'll need a diverter valve for the sink drain and seawater inlets.
in attempting to be brief, to mention that you'll need a diverter valve for the sink drain and seawater inlets.
Nope, no diverter valve (y-valve) needed
In fact, that would actually defeat the whole purpose of doing it. All that's needed is a plug in the sink to prevent the toilet from pulling air through it while pulling in sea water to flush. To rinse the sea water out of the whole system, close the seacock and fill the sink with fresh water, flush the toilet. Because the seacock is closed, the toilet will pull the water out of the sink.
In fact, that would actually defeat the whole purpose of doing it. All that's needed is a plug in the sink to prevent the toilet from pulling air through it while pulling in sea water to flush. To rinse the sea water out of the whole system, close the seacock and fill the sink with fresh water, flush the toilet. Because the seacock is closed, the toilet will pull the water out of the sink.
Grin...We'll agreeably disagree.
The lubbers I often invite aboard seem to have enough trouble with the 'complexity' of a marine head without requiring them to remember to plug the sink too. FWIW, some folks leave the seacock closed and use fresh water exclusively.
The lubbers I often invite aboard seem to have enough trouble with the 'complexity' of a marine head without requiring them to remember to plug the sink too. FWIW, some folks leave the seacock closed and use fresh water exclusively.
Chris, you obviously need smarter friends! 
Many sailboat builders plumb the head sink drain and toilet to the same thru-hull to eliminate a thru-hull/seacock. Remembering to keep the plug in the sink except when the sink is actually in use has never been a problem for the owners and their guests, especially since it's unlikely that anyone would be using the sink and the toilet at the same time. If the "complexities" of flushing a marine toilet are a bit much for your guests, remembering to switch a y-valve to drain the sink or flush the toilet would only add more complexity.
Many sailboat builders plumb the head sink drain and toilet to the same thru-hull to eliminate a thru-hull/seacock. Remembering to keep the plug in the sink except when the sink is actually in use has never been a problem for the owners and their guests, especially since it's unlikely that anyone would be using the sink and the toilet at the same time. If the "complexities" of flushing a marine toilet are a bit much for your guests, remembering to switch a y-valve to drain the sink or flush the toilet would only add more complexity.
Ooops
Well Peggy, either we are having two different discussions, or I'm a bit addled. The latter is most likely. But, perhaps I may be excused in that I have been struggling to boil the complexities of IRS Section 1031 Like Kind, Tax Deferred Exchanges into a one hour presentation for Realtors (which I think came of pretty well this afternoon). I thought we were talking about teeing in a supply line to the sink drain in order to make it easy to do a final fresh flush(alliteration is so delightfully tacky). In my hidebound mental state, I assumed that since we were adding a tee, we had two throughulls to deal with and I wasn't even contemplating a single through hull setup ('cause two's the way my boats have been and are rigged and I've never actually used one on anyone else's boat yet...duh on me). Otherwise, the head inlet is used for normal operations and the wye valve is only used for a little fresh water PM when leaving the boat. As the lowest ranking sailor aboard our vessels, that task almost invariably falls to me and most of the time I can get it right after a little fumbling around. BTW, we just bought Commitment in May and I haven't even gotten around to actually adding the tee and wye yet (way down on the list still). For now, I simply use the shower to freshen the bowl and outlet hose and we use the head frequently enough to keep the inlet water hose from getting too rank. There is an added benefit in that we move more water through the tanks more often, minimizing stagnation With a single through hull you are, as always, correct...a wye valve would be superfluous. Anyway, you can certainly see why I wouldn't be culling MENSA members for company. Not very good for a fragile ego. Best regards, Chris
Well Peggy, either we are having two different discussions, or I'm a bit addled. The latter is most likely. But, perhaps I may be excused in that I have been struggling to boil the complexities of IRS Section 1031 Like Kind, Tax Deferred Exchanges into a one hour presentation for Realtors (which I think came of pretty well this afternoon). I thought we were talking about teeing in a supply line to the sink drain in order to make it easy to do a final fresh flush(alliteration is so delightfully tacky). In my hidebound mental state, I assumed that since we were adding a tee, we had two throughulls to deal with and I wasn't even contemplating a single through hull setup ('cause two's the way my boats have been and are rigged and I've never actually used one on anyone else's boat yet...duh on me). Otherwise, the head inlet is used for normal operations and the wye valve is only used for a little fresh water PM when leaving the boat. As the lowest ranking sailor aboard our vessels, that task almost invariably falls to me and most of the time I can get it right after a little fumbling around. BTW, we just bought Commitment in May and I haven't even gotten around to actually adding the tee and wye yet (way down on the list still). For now, I simply use the shower to freshen the bowl and outlet hose and we use the head frequently enough to keep the inlet water hose from getting too rank. There is an added benefit in that we move more water through the tanks more often, minimizing stagnation With a single through hull you are, as always, correct...a wye valve would be superfluous. Anyway, you can certainly see why I wouldn't be culling MENSA members for company. Not very good for a fragile ego. Best regards, Chris
No wonder you were confused!
"I thought we were talking about teeing in a supply line to the sink drain..." Nooo...not only wouldn't that make any sense, it would put your fresh water supply at risk of being polluted by the toilet. Fresh water is already supplied to the sink via a faucet. It's only necessary to tee the drain into the head intake line to use it to flush sea water out of the toilet. It's the only safe way to supply fresh water to the toilet.
"I thought we were talking about teeing in a supply line to the sink drain..." Nooo...not only wouldn't that make any sense, it would put your fresh water supply at risk of being polluted by the toilet. Fresh water is already supplied to the sink via a faucet. It's only necessary to tee the drain into the head intake line to use it to flush sea water out of the toilet. It's the only safe way to supply fresh water to the toilet.
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